NIGHTRAGE – Remains Of A Dead World

RELEASE YEAR: 2024
BAND URL: https://nightrage.com/

Although one of the Gothenburg melodic death metal three, In Flames, had stopped making music with the “wow” effect (to borrow from a commercial) after the fantastic Clayman²⁰⁰⁰, arguably they haven’t stopped making melodeath until after Reroute To Remain²⁰⁰², Soundtrack To Your Escape²⁰⁰⁴ where they started Kornizing their sound. It is as if at that point a hole in the universe had opened that had to be filled and the best candidate had appeared in Greece with Sweet Vengeance²⁰⁰³ by a Thessalonican quartet Nightrage, whose 10th album, Remains Of A Dead World²⁰²⁴ was released on May 31st via Despotz Records, an album I find a flawless work where it’s incredibly difficult to pick favorites, which is why I had to use different criteria to present examples of this marvelous work. Generally, if you liked (not even loved) “Sweet Vengeance” or In Flames’ Whoracle¹⁹⁹⁷ and Colony¹⁹⁹⁹ this album is a must on your shopping list.

While In Flames was at the height of their popularity with “Clayman”, Nightrage was founded by (the only remaining founder) Marios Iliopoulos (guitars, clean vocals-2003) and Konstantinos “Gus G.” Karamitroudis (vocals-2003, guitars-2006) with 3 consecutive demos (2000, 2001, 2002) thereby attracting the attention of Century Media Records. Having coopted (then) former At The Gates’ vocalist Tomas Lindberg and bassist Brice Julien Leclercq, they recorded “Sweet Vengeance”, an album that rivaled the Gothenburg trio, At The Gates, Dark Tranquillity and In Flames in intensity, creativity and melody and which has become a legendary work. While Lindberg stayed for the recording of Descent Into Chaos²⁰⁰⁵, Leclercq left replaced by Henric Carlsson (known today as Stig Henric Liljesand), Nightrage also gaining a drummer in Fotis “Benardo” Giannakopoulos, eventually losing Gus G, the album a step down from the debut but the band remaining on Century Media. Lindberg having rejoined At The Gates and replaced by Jimmie Fredrik Lothar Strimell, and dropping from Century Media Records, Nightrage recorded A New Disease Is Born²⁰⁰⁷ via Lifeforce Records, an improvement over the immediate predecessor. Wearing A Martyr’s Crown²⁰⁰⁹ (still on Lifeforce) saw Nightrage change vocalists to Antony Hämäläinen but the record was, again, a letdown to fans, however Insidious²⁰¹¹, with additional vocalist and guitarist Nils Olof Mörck a fantastic return to form. The Puritan²⁰¹⁵ brought a change of label to Despotz Records and reduction to a trio with a change of vocalists to Ronnie Nyman which didn’t affect the continued quality, but Venomous²⁰¹⁷ showed wear and tear, Nightrage running out of fresh ideas, however, seeing the addition of the permanent guitarist Magnus Söderman, and, frankly, I can’t say anything for Wolf To Man²⁰¹⁹ or Abyss Rising²⁰²², except that the latter was the last album with Nyman as Iliopoulos took over all vocals. What I can say is that, Iliopoulos the only permanent member, himself, Söderman, Francisco Escalona (2018-bass), George Stamoglou (bass, 2018-2024) and Konstantinos Togas (2023-drums) constitute the lineup for the creation of “Remains Of A Dead World”, an album, among other things, clearly hearkening back directly to “Sweet Vengeance” (which I will prove momentarily) and succeeding at it beyond the creators’ wildest dreams.

Let’s talk first about the way the disc opens: no pompous intros, no slowly unveiling progression, just a fresh catchy riff and deathrashing roll a’la Omnium Gatherum 2009 until the melodic chorus and then a balladic transition straight out of In Flames’ “Ordinary Story” as “with pride I leave behind this filthy world of shadows and lies”, setting up the whole of the album, yet every song is truly different. “Persevere Through Adversity”, which points back to “Hero” in the manner of clean vocal chorus, offers some measured optimism with “the hardships of our youth, dark glass of our lifetime” bidding us to “persevere, keeping going” despite “values tormented and glorified”, while “Nocturnal Thorns” has you reflect on your verbal knee-jerk reaction impulsivity so many of us struggle with as you’re “fantasizing of amputating your thoughts” as “you find yourself trapped in anxiety sinking deeper and deeper in horror” with “eternal sea filling your lungs” with desperate gasping for air,
the very same that you exhale,
with every word that you said” as “forever you wish to back what you speak” to the tune that revisits “In My Heart”, and “A Throne Of Melancholy” In Flames'”Scorn” maybe a bit too close for comfort but too good of a song to dismiss (or to lower the score), “Deadliest Sin” evocative of “Elusive Emotion”, slowed down chorus to a ballad then repeated normally (a neat trick repeated in “Pierce The Soul”), and, to top it all off, the title track spewing forth merciless aggression in a manner very much reminiscent of “The Tremor” or Darkane’s blastbeaten Rusted Angel¹⁹⁹⁹ yet tastefully ended with acoustics a’la Annihilator’s “Phoenix Rising”- and that’s just some choice cuts. Time and space will not allow me to elaborate on the fantastic riff in “Echoes Of Broken Words” (1:11 mark), the groovy power of ten ton hammer riffs worthy of classic Machine Head (Pierce The Soul), “Obey The Hand” smartly utilizing guitar patterns of Pestilence’s “Out Of The Body” far from imitation, countless transitions, vocal hooks, furious versatile drums and fantastic solos, abundant fresh wonderful melodies to move dead men to tears or the fantastic production courtesy of Fotis Benardo and mastering by George Nerantzis highly reminiscent of the legendary Fredrik Nordström and Studio Fredman synonymous with classic Gothenburg works. Frankly, I haven’t heard such perfect melodeath where literally every track is memorable to a fault, since “Whoracle” or “Colony” (because “Clayman”, as good as it was, wasn’t perfect). This is why we love heavy metal, folks, and we always will.

Is this Nightrage’s magnum opus? Do bears poop in the forest? If Nightrage wanted to show off with this album they sure as the Final Judgment did, because I am floored. If you liked Arch Enemy’s Burning Bridges¹⁹⁹⁹, Soilwork’s The Chainheart Machine¹⁹⁹⁹ or Omnium Gatherum’s New World Shadows²⁰⁰⁹ run, do not walk, to your local CD store and buy a copy for every member of your family, including your grandparents, and call me in the morning. From now on, when someone asks me “how do you define perfect melodic death metal album” I will giddily point them to “Remains Of A Dead World”. A spectacular achievement, a future classic and late album of 2024, as far as I’m concerned.